THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 23, 1994 TAG: 9407230339
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
It was Thursday afternoon and 175 campers, most about 12, were huddled in Virginia Wesleyan College's cafeteria as ominous clouds built an imposing wall just east of the campus.
Sonny Travis was doing his best to maintain order, which included directing his camp counselors to remove all salt and pepper shakers and napkin dispensers from the tables.
``Things don't always work out the way you plan, so we're going to be in here until the storm passes,'' shouted Travis, the men's soccer head coach at Virginia Wesleyan who moonlights as head coach of the Hampton Roads Hurricanes semipro team.
``I have here one of the best instructional soccer tapes I've ever seen. I want you people to watch it carefully.
``PEOPLE, FOR THE 19TH TIME CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!''
Where chaos once reigned, 175 campers came to attention.
The scene was a microcosm of the Hurricanes' season.
For the 20th time, the Hurricanes will take the field against a U.S. Interregional Soccer League opponent when they host the league's defending champion, the Greensboro Dynamo, at 7:30 tonight at the Center for Effective Learning in Virginia Beach.
With a victory the Hurricanes, in their first year, could squeeze into a postseason playoff slot. Getting to this point required a huge midseason turnaround.
Six weeks ago, the Hurricanes were 2-6. They'd gone through a stretch where they scored only two goals in five games and were shut out four times.
Travis, who stresses offense at his highly successful program at Virginia Wesleyan, had promised a potent Hurricanes attack. But it was looking as if he'd blown a lot of hot air.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, then-team owner Ellis Gillespie was wallowing in debt and the league was threatening to take away the team - which it eventually did - for failure to pay league dues and fulfill a required letter of credit.
Travis wondered if Gillespie might take the team from him first.
Travis guides one of the more successful Division III college soccer programs in the country. Soon to enter his sixth year at Virginia Wesleyan, the 39-year-old is 78-15-13 at the Marlins helm. But Travis was finding the professional ranks to be a bit tougher.
``Any coach would have questioned himself at that point,'' Travis said.
``I was used to winning, and now I wasn't. I finally realized you have to set realistic goals and that things like this take time.
``We can attain our first goal: a winning season. If we make the playoffs, it's a superlative.
``I found out you have to coach differently at this level. The players demand it. You have to coach tactically. They already have the technique.''
The other aspect of coaching a semiprofessional team that can use college players is that some players have regular jobs, some live out of town, some are foreign students without a working visa and some are college players with part-time jobs.
``It's hard to be consistent in how you relate to all of these different types of players,'' Travis said. ``I've just tried to be fair.''
Travis is Mr. Nice Guy.
But Hurricanes forward Mark Waite remembers a night when Travis ``lost it completely,'' picking up a chair during a halftime talk and hurling it across the locker room.
``At this level, you have to be part psychologist, part salesman and sometimes you have to be downright tough with your players,'' Travis said. ``We were up 2-1 against Columbia at the half and the players were all full of themselves. But we'd gotten soft and lazy at the end of the half and given up an easy goal. I just picked up one of those little desks and . . .''
Travis doesn't often act like Bobby Knight, but it got the Hurricanes' attention. They went on to win, 4-1.
The Hurricanes were 10-7 in Atlantic Division play and 11-8 overall after Friday night's 5-3 win over Baltimore. They've gone 9-2 since their early-season woes.
``The coach is the first person fans look to when a team's losing,'' Waite said.
``But in soccer, more than any other sport, a coach has very little to do with the outcome once the game begins. It's our fault if we don't score.''
Travis, however, was doing everything he could off the field to improve the Hurricanes' chances of scoring, mainly finding players who could put the ball in the back of the net.
``It's so much different than college soccer,'' Travis said. ``In college, you know what you have at the beginning of the season and you try to mold it.
``This is a business - you find your weaknesses, then go about plugging the holes.''
Midway through the season, the Hurricanes needed something extra. They got Radford University forward Ian Spooner.
Then they needed speed on the right flank. So Travis tracked down Blake Rogers, a product of Indiana University. A versatile athlete was needed. In came Greg Richards from William and Mary.
His biggest move was opting to go with former Old Dominion player Tim Figureido in goal over the experienced Scott Budnick, who played last year for the Richmond Kickers, a Hurricanes adversary.
``Scott was so close to winning games, but we just weren't winning,'' Travis said. ``I went with my gut instinct, and Tim elevated his game.''
Players came. Players went.
``We've been dedicated to the players who were dedicated to us,'' Travis said. ``We've given guys ample opportunity to prove whether they could play at this level.''
Travis is thankful he received the same opportunity.
``In all fairness to Ellis,'' Travis said, ``he left me alone and let me coach.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Sonny Travis: ``This is a business - you find your weaknesses, then
go about plugging the holes.''
by CNB